...And now it was evening time, and all the townsfolk, together with the people of the Peanut Forest, gathered in the town square, spent and tired, but relieved; for they had triumphed over the Dark Knight.
With the light from many torches burning, our heroine stands in the flickering glow in the center of the square, bruised and covered in the Dark Knight's blood, knowing it was over and yet only just beginning; the people were there for her, they needed her and she trembled inside at the enormous responsibility. Overwhelmed, she dropped to her knees, how would she take care of them? She knew in her heart she needed help, his help.
Help from the one man that helped her vanquish the Dark Knight.
She knew she had to convince him to stay. But how could she?
And now we see the White Knight, having travelled for many years and many miles to defeat the Dark Knight, about to be on his way.
He was a selfless champion of the people, and he waged this battle, not for spoils, no, that was for the townspeople, and to give land to the people of the Peanut Forest; he fought because it was his destiny.
And so here he stood at the edge of town, about to ride off into the sunset (with people asking under their breath "who was that kind, selfless man?") When she rises and runs after him, stumbling, hair blowing in the wind, screaming at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her face "'Jack! Jack! Don't leave, we need you!" and the people gasped as one, as he stopped and took her in his arms and said gently "All right, I'll stay, only if you want me to." to which she sobbingly replied, burying her face in his strong shoulders "Never leave! Promise me Jack! Promise me you'll never leave!" and, as he quietly stroked her hair, whispers "I Promise"...
AND ...... CUT!
CUE DRAMATIC MUSIC
CUE SUNSET
RELEASE DOVES
ROLL CREDITS
On the day Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar announced her Cabinet, and in a scene straight out of a Spaghetti Western, she went to great lengths to describe how Jack Warner had to be convinced to take up a Ministerial role.
Why?
Watching this, i was reminded of Queen Gertrude's response to Prince Hamlet's questions about the central character's response in the play - "The lady doth protest too much, methinks".
Didn't she though?
Why was this our business? Our concern? To make us feel 'doubly' indebted to this kind, selfless man? Or to continue the work of the spin doctors in rebranding this cutthroat, 'yuh mudder!, ask yuh mudder!' kind of man?
How do we justify putting the sword to the Code of Ethics that was created for moments like this?
Let's put a pin in this for a moment....
On the afternoon he was sworn in as Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Keith Rowley asked a simple question, a nothing question really if you believe the 'Talking Heads' line, yet a question that sent a rumble through the ruling Party and shock waves through the nation, and set the agenda for all the players of substance, on or off stage.
Why?
Why so much ado about nothing?
The Spin Doctors went to work immediately, pulling rank and file to belittle and 'steups' at the question, but it became the 'steups' heard round the world.
Why?
Our newly sworn in Attorney General, a legal luminary in his own right and a decisive man of action was reduced to looking for back up instead of relying on his own interpretation of the Code.
Why?
His judgement alone was all that was needed to decide it, and everything we would have needed and would have relied on if this was indeed a nothing issue. Why seek such esteemed opinions on such a trivial matter?
Why?
This 'nothing' question has become the central issue of the entire population, and has split the country down Party lines, racial lines, and ethical lines; most people are not even sure what the question is, so it is being reduced to if you trust Jack Warner or you don't.
Why?
This brings me to another issue. Was the Prime Minister being less than honest with the population about the 'arm twisting' required to get him to join the Cabinet?
If he never wanted the position, why is he fighting so hard to hold on to it? Why is National Treasure being spent on this? Is no one else in the ENTIRE People's Partnership capable of handling the Ministry of Works?
Was this scenario true, and if it isn't I have to ask the Prime Minister again, what is?
What did Dr. Rowley really do here?
In my humble opinion, I believe Dr. Rowley opened a sore that stinks on many levels, and one that will not easily go away.
It stinks on the ground.
Among the electorate there is a level of distrust for Jack Warner that was only allowed to pass because we had bigger fish to fry, the then Prime Minister and thorn in the National backside, Patrick Mervyn Augustus Prevatee Dhanrajsing Imelda Aboud Manning.
An entire election was fought to rid everyone of this 'Soucouyant' and we accomplished the objective, all hands on deck, easy peasy.
Now the dust has settled, and the people have to look at what they really got in exchange, and Warner and everything that he represents now, for the future, and especially in the past, is starting to stink.
It stinks in the People's Partnership.
Regardless of efforts to pretend otherwise or to rewrite history, most of his Party colleagues sleep with one eye open when Warner is around.
Suruj Rambachan and Winston Dookeran to name a few, have both gone on record admitting to having questions and serious reservations about the individual. Stephen Cadiz is a man of serious integrity and ethical capital, and I await with baited breath his take on all of this.
It stinks in the Cabinet.
It is my belief that all the posturing, endorsing, hiding and buck passing was everyone's way of hoping that someone else would find a way to say it can't work, and so let the Promise Keepers off the hook.
No such luck.
Give Jack's PR man his jacket; whoever it is, the man working overtime deflecting, dodging, rebranding, repositioning, reinventing, sweating his proverbial tail off, trying to get people to see Warner 2010, the new construct, instead of focusing on what he is known, believed, alleged, reputed to be, internationally.
It stinks internationally.
The World is watching this. FIFA is alleged and believed to be one of the most corrupt organizations in the world, with allegations from all corners of the globe. There is talk of the US Football Federation having serious issues with certain individuals in CONCACAF and this masquerade of FIFA as a paragon of virtue is not washing with anybody; the Americans are paying close attention to what obtains next.
Look, if it is taking this much effort, this much talk to put this man in this post, shouldn't we, as a nation, get to weigh in on it now?
What a wonderful opportunity to fulfill a campaign promise, that divisive issues will be decided by referendum.
GIve the people a say. Let the people decide. Put the issue out to referendum, and, depending on the result, let that settle it.
Our Prime Minister's press conference on the heels of the 'Ruling' opened more cans of worms than it settled as she flailed around looking for justifications, talking sillyness about what is carved in stone, and new millennium piffle.
If she is the REAL Leader of the country she should know that ALL Cabinet and Ministerial appointments are hers and hers alone to give an take as is her fancy, and she could have put an end to the entire discussion by simply saying "In my capacity as Prime Minister, and based on the legal advice I have received, I stand by my appointment of Jack Warner as Minister of Works".
End of discussion.
Why all the extraneous mumbo jumbo?
There has to be a lot more in this particular mortar, and I feel this central issue is the beginning of the break up of the People's Partnership and the destruction of this Government.
In this one move the People's Partnership has ceded the moral high ground to the new PNM and invested the ethical capital of the country in Dr. Keith Rowley, the new corruption buster of Trinidad & Tobago.
Stay tuned, I think we're in for a bumpy ride.
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